One of the most iconic symbols of Venice is the winged lion sculpture that perches atop a column in the Piazza San Marco, or St. Mark’s Square. It’s even depicted on the flag of the Republic of Venice.
But while it is known as the Lion of Venice, the statue’s origin story appears to be far murkier than once believed. In a new paper published Thursday in the journal Antiquity, researchers lay out evidence that the bronze statue was made using copper ore from the Lower Yangzi River basin in China.
What’s more, the team argues that the winged lion’s distinctive design is comparable to sculptures from China’s Tang Dynasty, which ruled around 618–907 CE. Based on their analysis, they believe that the most famous symbol of Venetian power may have originated in the far east, likely arriving in the City of Bridges via the Silk Road.
“Venice is a city full of mysteries, but one has been solved: the ‘Lion’ of St. Mark is Chinese, and he walked the Silk Road,” Massimo Vidale, a co-author of the study and an archaeologist from the Università degli Studi di Padova, said in a statement.
Interestingly, the Lion of Venice rarely appears in historical texts, and researchers still don’t know precisely where it came from, when it arrived in Venice, or where and when it was placed atop the column in the Piazza San Marco.
In a bid to tease out some of its origin tale, Vidale and his colleagues performed a lead isotope analysis—a technique used to identify where a metal came from. That was what led them to the copper ore in China’s Yangzi River basin.
In the past, scientists had theorized that the Lion of Venice was inspired by Mesopotamian and Persian lion-headed griffins, but in the new analysis, the team argues that it appears much more similar to Tang Dynasty tomb guardian sculptures, or zhènmùshòu (镇墓兽). Tomb guardians were often depicted as fierce-looking animal hybrids, sometimes with human-like features.
The Venetian statue also seems to have gone through a number of modifications over the years. It may have originally had horns, which would have made it appear even more similar to a zhènmùshòu.
Ultimately, the researchers suggest the Venetian icon may have experienced a long journey and transformation to be where it is today: Niccolò and Maffeo Polo, famous explorer Marco Polo’s father and uncle, might have come across a Tang Dynasty tomb guardian while visiting the Mongol court in Khanbaliq (modern-day Beijing) and sent it back to Europe via the Silk Road. There, its horns may have been removed and ears shortened to make it seem more like a lion. The lion represents Saint Mark the Evangelist, Venice’s patron saint. Alternatively, there may have been other medieval trade connections between China and Europe that could have brought the statue to the city.
Ultimately, the study suggests that medieval Venice’s sphere of influence may have reached even further than previously believed—a power the city still holds till this day.
CEOs from some of the nation’s biggest tech companies sat down for a dinner with President Trump on Thursday. Among those present were Tim Cook, Sam Altman, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg. Bloomberg tech reporter Riley Griffin joins CBS News to discuss.
NEW DELHI (Reuters) -India is seeking to boost drug exports to semi-regulated markets in Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia to reduce its dependence on the U.S., where tariff concerns pose risks, officials from a government-backed trade body told Reuters on Thursday.
The Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil) also plans to push for sales of finished goods to China to bridge the trade deficit, the officials said. The Indian industry imports more than 60% of its raw materials and active pharmaceutical ingredients from China.
While Indian pharmaceutical exports are currently exempt from President Donald Trump‘s tariffs of up to 50%, growing uncertainty and tensions between the countries have kept the industry cautious.
“It is a matter of concern for us,” Pharmexcil Chairman Namit Joshi said, referring to the U.S. tariffs.
The U.S. is India’s largest market and accounts for slightly more than a third of India’s pharmaceutical exports, which comprise mainly cheaper generic versions of popular drugs. Exports to the country rose 20% to about $10.5 billion in fiscal 2025.
“The point is how medium and small enterprises and big companies can come together and work on those (semi-regulated)markets,” Bhavin Mehta, Pharmexcil’s vice chairman, said on the sidelines of a conference.
The trade body plans to submit its related plan to the government by next week, Mehta said.
Earlier this week, Reuters had reported about India’s plans to increase pharmaceutical exports to Russia, the Netherlands and Brazil, citing two industry sources.
India recorded a trade deficit of $99.2 billion with China in the fiscal year that ended in March 2025, driven by a surge in imports of electronic goods and consumer durables.
“If 20% trade deficit gets covered by exporting back to China, I think we (could) generate $6 billion from China,” Pharmexcil’s Joshi said on Thursday.
(Reporting by Sriparna Roy and Rishika Sadam in New Delhi; Writing by Mariam Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Dhanya Skariachan and Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
China’s President Xi Jinping and his visiting Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin discussed life-prolonging organ transplants and immortality as they chatted before a massive military parade in Beijing on Wednesday, in comments picked up by state media microphones.
Historic images showed Xi shaking hands and speaking with Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as they walked down a red carpet by Tiananmen Square, in scenes viewed as a challenge to President Trump and the U.S.-led global order that has prevailed for more than a century.
“These days… 70 years old,” Xi mused in Mandarin as he walked beside Putin and Kim, according to video aired by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV. Xi’s translator conveyed the remarks to Putin, who is then heard in Russian quoting a line from a Tang dynasty poem: “In the past, it used to be rare for someone to be older than 70 and these days they say that at 70 one’s still a child.”
Elderly residents gather at a local civil affairs service center to watch the live broadcast of China’s Victory Day military parade from Beijing, Sept. 3, 2025, in Chongqing, China.
Cheng Xin/Getty
Putin then turned toward Xi, speaking while gesturing with his hands, though his words are inaudible on the CCTV feed. The same Chinese translator then relays Putin’s remarks to Xi.
“With the… development of biotechnology, human organs can be continuously transplanted, people could get younger as they grow older, and may even become immortal,” Putin said, according to the translator.
Xi then spoke again in Mandarin as the camera cut away: “Predictions are, in this century, it may be… possible to live to 150 years old.”
Putin confirmed the exchange during a news conference later Wednesday.
“Ah, I think it was when we were going to the parade that the chairman spoke about this,” he told reporters, referring to Xi.
“Modern means — both health improvement and medical means, and then even all kinds of surgical ones related to organ replacement — allow humanity to hope that active life will continue not as it does today,” Putin added.
China and Russia’s “no limits partnership”
Xi and Putin, along with Kim and Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have been dubbed an “Axis of Upheaval” by some Western analysts, and Xi’s decision to bring together the leaders of some of the most heavily sanctioned nations in the world this week was clearly calculated.
The parade was the first time Kim had ever appeared together with both Xi and Putin — providing him a first multilateral diplomatic event.
Xi and Putin have made their ambition to shake up the global status quo clear for several years.
“We, together with you and with our sympathizers, will move towards a multipolar, just, democratic world order,” Russia’s longtime Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in 2022, ahead of a meeting with his Chinese counterpart.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping shake hands during a welcoming ceremony before their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow on May 8, 2025.
EVGENIA NOVOZHENINA/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
China and Russia have declared a “no limits partnership,” and neither Xi nor Putin, who are both 72, has ever expressed any intention of stepping down from their respective roles at the helm of their nations.
While Xi’s predecessors Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao relinquished power after 10 years in office, he abolished term limits in 2018 and, in 2023, was handed a third term as Chinese president.
Putin was elected to a record fifth six-year term just last year in Russia. Critics dismissed the vote as a patently undemocratic farse, as virtually all of Putin’s serious political opponents were barred from running, and many of them were jailed.
Putin has twice used his leverage as Russia’s autocratic leader to amend the constitution so that he can theoretically stay in power until he’s in his mid-80s. He already is the longest-serving Kremlin leader since Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.
China, meanwhile, has historically had one of the lowest rates of organ donation in the world, with a severe shortage of organ donors and a long-standing black-market organ trade. In 2016, about four years into Xi’s tenure as leader, surgeons from the World Health Organization gathered in Beijing to try to allay skepticism about whether Chinese hospitals had, as claimed, stopped performing transplants with the organs of executed prisoners.
Inside the cavern of Catch One nightclub on the last Friday in August, neon laser beams shower the dance floor and bodies sway in devotional harmony, as ravers from every corner of Los Angeles flock to deliver an offering at the altar of Labubu.
Everyone is here. The true believers and truly curious, the trend chasers, the nightlife purists, the wannabe influencers, the party crashers, and those who simply want to be seen.
It’s a celebration of Labubu, the furry Ewok-like collectible that, in an age of fly-by-night TikTok trends, AI influencers, and cheap hype, seems to have become a bona fide phenomenon. Some 250 people aged 18 and up have gathered, unified in their appreciation for their new toy god. Outside, a line snakes through the parking lot, and soft hints of weed smoke perfume the balmy night air.
There are three things I know about Labubu: Either you have one, you want one, or you have an opinion about one. So I’m here to make sense of its cultlike mania.
“It’s the Labubu rave, baby!” announces John, a 27-year-old law student who is at the party with a group of friends. “I just think that they’re really cute,” he says. From his backpack he pulls a limited-edition Coca-Cola Labubu and delicately holds it as if it were a trophy, waiting for me to admire it. “I know part of why they are so popular is consumerism. But they’re so cute. It’s a trend. Things catch on.” (Attendees WIRED spoke to declined to share their last name, citing privacy or work concerns.)
Originally conceived in 2015 by Chinese-Dutch artist Kasing Lung, Labubu has since taken off at a global scale in the past year, with high demand driven by celebrity endorsements. Everyone from Rihanna, BTS, Kim Kardashian, and Naomi Osaka—who showed off four crystal-encrusted limited editions at this year’s US Open tournament—have sung the praise song of Labubu. Today, Labubu is sold by the Chinese toy maker Pop Mart as part of its franchise “The Monsters.” According to the company, it has generated over $670 million in revenue in the first six months of 2025, a 668 percent increase compared to the same period last year, WIRED reported in August.
From a stage inside Catch One, a movie-theater-size LED screen plays animations of the furry toy deity, and the DJ summons his faithful. “Everybody put their Labubu up,” he instructs into the mic. Hands launch into the air. Bass shoots from the speakers. There is a contagious velocity to the moment that is hard not to get hooked on. The DJ cues up “Late at Night,” Lily Palmer and Maddix’s techno earworm, and the crowd erupts as one. Labubus swing from necks, are fist-pumped skyward, and sway from vest pockets. The energy is constant.
“It’s a good fashion statement,” says Aiden, 21. “If you match it well, depending on the colors, put a good outfit on and take a photo, it’s a look.” A manager for a clothing company, Aiden says having a Labubu has become an indicator of taste. “People who have one already know, like, ‘Oh shit, a Labubu. OK you’re cool.’”
NON-RENEWAL. WE ARE STILL WAITING TO HEAR BACK. WE’LL KEEP YOU POSTED. OUR LEADERSHIP IN SPACE IS UNDER THREAT. THAT IS THE WARNING TODAY FROM TOP NASA OFFICIALS AND A FORMER NASA ADMINISTRATOR. THAT’S RIGHT. WESH 2’S SPACE COAST REPORTER MEGHAN MORIARTY IS LIVE FOR US RIGHT NOW WITH THE CLEAR MESSAGE FROM THOSE LEADERS. CHINA IS SURGING. SUMMER AND NANCY. THE MESSAGE WAS CLEAR WITHOUT A SUCCESSFUL AND FULLY FUNDED ARTEMIS PROGRAM, WE RISK LOSING THE MOON TO CHINA. HOWEVER, THERE ARE STILL CONCERNS AROUND THE SETBACKS AND THE EXCESSIVE COST TIED TO SPACE EXPLORATION. IT’S GETTING DOWN TO THE WIRE IN THE COUNTRY THAT LANDS ON THE MOON. NEXT, COULD HOLD THE POWER SHAPING THE RULES OF SPACE FOR DECADES TO COME. THEIR INTENT IS CLEAR. THEIR PROGRESS IS REAL, AND TIME IS NOT ON OUR SIDE. THIS IS A RACE THAT THE UNITED STATES CANNOT AFFORD TO LOSE. DURING A SENATE COMMITTEE MEETING ON WEDNESDAY, KEY WITNESSES TESTIFIED BEFORE LAWMAKERS URGING THEM NOT TO CUT BACK FUNDING FOR SPACE EXPLORATION. THIS COMES AFTER CRITICISM OVER THE EXCESSIVE COST AND DELAYS IN COMPONENTS FOR NASA’S ARTEMIS PROGRAM. WE’RE TALKING ABOUT NOW AN AGENCY THAT HAS LESS THAN ONE THIRD OF 1% OF THE FEDERAL BUDGET. AND, BY THE WAY, IF YOU GO BACK TO APOLLO, IT WAS SOMEWHERE BETWEEN 4 AND 5%. SO WE ARE SIGNIFICANTLY SMALLER. MOST NOTABLY, WE HEARD FROM FORMER NASA ADMINISTRATOR JIM BRIDENSTINE, WHO ACKNOWLEDGED THE CONCERNS OVER MONEY BUT SAYS THE PROGRAM IS ESSENTIAL NOT JUST TO BEAT CHINA TO THE MOON, BUT FOR OVERALL SCIENTIFIC DEVELOPMENT. WE HAD A DRUG, A MERCK DRUG, KEYTRUDA, WHICH IS FOR LUNG CANCER, AND WE WERE ABLE TO TO MAKE THAT DRUG SO THAT INSTEAD OF INSTEAD OF TRYING TO FIND OUT IF WITHIN 2 OR 3 MONTHS, IF IT’S GOING TO BE EFFICACIOUS, YOU CAN FIND OUT WITHIN 2 TO 3 WEEKS WHETHER OR NOT IT’S GOING TO BE EFFICACIOUS. FORMER NASA ADMINISTRATOR NOMINEE JARED ISAACMAN ALSO WEIGHED IN ON X, SAYING IN PART, IT IS GOOD TO SEE NASA GETTING SOME WELL-DESERVED ATTENTION, BUT ADDING THAT WE SHOULD BE ASKING WHY TAXPAYERS HAVE SPENT 100 PLUS BILLION TRYING TO RETURN TO THE MOON, SAYING THE SLS IS EXTRAORDINARILY EXPENSIVE AND ORION HAS ISSUES. THE SUITS ARE NOT READY AND THE LANDERS ARE NOT READY. ISAACMAN ALSO HIGHLIGHTED THAT NASA CAN GET HELP FROM PRIVATE INDUSTRY. SO THIS WAY THE TAXPAYER ISN’T FRONTING MOST OF THE COST. NOW, WHILE THIS IS AN IMPORTANT DISCUSSION THAT WILL CONTINUE, IT SEEMS TO BE CLEAR THAT THERE ALSO NEEDS TO BE SOME BACKUP PLANS IN PLACE. ANOTHER COMMITTEE MEETING IS NOT ON THE SCHEDULE JUST YET.
‘We risk losing the moon to China’ NASA space race continues amid U.S. funding concerns
As the race to land on the moon intensifies, key witnesses are urging U.S. lawmakers not to cut funding for NASA’s Artemis program, emphasizing the importance of beating China to the moon and advancing scientific development.Allen Cutler, president and CEO of the Coalition for Deep Space Exploration, stressed the urgency of the situation. “Their intent is clear. Their progress is real, and time is not on our side. This is a race that the United States cannot afford to lose,” Cutler said.During a Senate committee meeting on Wednesday, witnesses addressed concerns over the excessive costs and delays in components for NASA’s Artemis program. Former NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine acknowledged these concerns but emphasized the program’s significance.”We’re talking about now an agency that has less than one-third of one percent of the federal budget. And by the way, if you go back to Apollo, it was somewhere between 4 and 5 percent, so we are significantly smaller,” Bridenstine said.Bridenstine also highlighted the scientific benefits of the Artemis program, citing advancements in medical research. “We had a drug merk drug Keytruda, which is for lung cancer and we were able to make that drug so that instead of trying to find out within two to three months if it’s going to be efficacious. You can find out within two to three weeks if it’s going to be efficacious,” he said.Former NASA administrator nominee Jared Isaacman shared his views on the social media platform X, expressing mixed feelings about NASA’s current situation.”It is good to see NASA getting some well-deserved attention,” Isaacman said, but he also questioned the financial investment. “We should be asking why taxpayers have spent $100+ billion trying to return to the Moon,” he said, pointing out issues with the Space Launch System, Orion, and other components.
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. —
As the race to land on the moon intensifies, key witnesses are urging U.S. lawmakers not to cut funding for NASA’s Artemis program, emphasizing the importance of beating China to the moon and advancing scientific development.
Allen Cutler, president and CEO of the Coalition for Deep Space Exploration, stressed the urgency of the situation. “Their intent is clear. Their progress is real, and time is not on our side. This is a race that the United States cannot afford to lose,” Cutler said.
During a Senate committee meeting on Wednesday, witnesses addressed concerns over the excessive costs and delays in components for NASA’s Artemis program. Former NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine acknowledged these concerns but emphasized the program’s significance.
“We’re talking about now an agency that has less than one-third of one percent of the federal budget. And by the way, if you go back to Apollo, it was somewhere between 4 and 5 percent, so we are significantly smaller,” Bridenstine said.
Bridenstine also highlighted the scientific benefits of the Artemis program, citing advancements in medical research. “We had a drug merk drug Keytruda, which is for lung cancer and we were able to make that drug so that instead of trying to find out within two to three months if it’s going to be efficacious. You can find out within two to three weeks if it’s going to be efficacious,” he said.
Former NASA administrator nominee Jared Isaacman shared his views on the social media platform X, expressing mixed feelings about NASA’s current situation.
“It is good to see NASA getting some well-deserved attention,” Isaacman said, but he also questioned the financial investment. “We should be asking why taxpayers have spent $100+ billion trying to return to the Moon,” he said, pointing out issues with the Space Launch System, Orion, and other components.
SEOUL — At a military parade in Beijing featuring China’s next-generation weaponry, another momentous scene was on display: Chinese President Xi Jinping standing side by side with Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Their joint appearance on Wednesday at a parade commemorating the end of World War II, is the first time that the leaders of the three countries have appeared together in public. It comes amid growing concern about the increasing collaboration of the “axis of upheaval,” a term that denotes China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea and their opposition to the U.S.-led world order.
It marks Kim’s first foray into multilateral diplomacy since assuming power in 2011. While in the past the reclusive leader has tended to avoid overseas trips due to security concerns, he arrived Tuesday in Beijing on a heavily armored train known as “The Sun,” stepping out to a welcome that even Kim’s grandfather Kim Il Sung didn’t get as the last North Korean leader to attend the Victory Day parade in 1959.
“The trip was an undeniable political victory for Kim Jong Un,” said Park Won-gon, a professor of North Korea studies at Seoul’s Ewha Womans University. “To be seen standing shoulder to shoulder with two superpowers in China is an incredibly powerful image of propaganda to show to North Korean residents.”
Kim’s growing diplomatic ambitions have in recent years involved a defense pact with Russia and the deployment of North Korean soldiers to the war in Ukraine in exchange for technological and military assistance.
In a statement posted on the website of North Korea’s foreign ministry a day before the parade, Vice Minister Pak Myong Ho accused the U.S. and other Western governments of openly inflicting “tyranny” against “countless countries around the world,” while expressing support for a new balance of power led by Beijing.
Experts at South Korea’s Institute for National Security Strategy (INSS), a government think tank, say that Kim’s most pressing agenda item in Beijing will be reviving its economic exchange with China, which has slowed in recent years amid Beijing’s frustrations with Pyongyang’s ongoing nuclear missile program.
“In economic matters, the importance of China’s assistance is absolute,” INSS researchers wrote in a report published ahead of the parade.
While Moscow in recent years has reportedly violated U.N. sanctions to provide North Korea with assistance ranging from refined petroleum to military drones, China is by far North Korea’s largest trading partner, accounting for up to 98% of the latter’s exports in 2023, according to an analysis by the Seoul-based Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency.
Noting that trade between North Korea and China currently sits at around 80% of pre-pandemic levels, the INSS researchers highlighted that the shortage of Chinese economic support — and once-steady tourist flows — was being acutely felt in places like the Wonsan Kalma resort, a newly opened beachside vacation destination that Kim called the country’s “greatest achievement” of 2025.
Despite North Korea’s vocal embrace of the so-called “new Cold War” order, Russia and China have been reluctant to do the same, analysts said.
“China doesn’t gain anything by forming a bloc with North Korea,” Park, the professor, said. “Xi Jinping knows all too well that at most, any attempt of this kind will at most be a loose gathering of countries who are positioned against the U.S. without any real power or the cohesiveness of a bloc.”
In a joint statement issued after a meeting in May 2024, Putin and Xi said that the China-Russia partnership is “a more advanced form of interstate interaction compared to the military-political alliances of the Cold War era and not of a bloc or confrontational nature.”
While a trilateral summit between the three leaders is widely regarded as unlikely for this reason, Kim’s appearance in Beijing may, on the other hand, provide the leverage he needs for a potential round two of summits with President Trump.
“I think North Korea may be willing to discuss a rollback of its nuclear program and demanding in return things like a permanent end to any joint U.S.- South Korea military drills or halting the deployment of any strategic assets,” Park said.
Though Trump expressed a willingness to sit down with Kim during a summit with South Korean president Lee Jae Myung last month, Park says that Pyongyang no longer sees the U.S.’ long-standing goal of North Korean denuclearization as a viable starting point — and that Kim’s parade appearance is likely to be seen as yet another vindication of that position.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un met on Wednesday after attending a Chinese military parade celebrating the anniversary of the end of World War II.
Putin and Kim were meeting at the Diaoyutai state guest house in Beijing after spending time with other world leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, at the parade.
The two men traveled to the bilateral talks in the same car after departing a formal reception, according to the Kremlin on social media, per The Associated Press.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un met in Beijing on Wednesday after attending a Chinese military parade celebrating the anniversary of the end of World War II.(ALEXANDER KAZAKOV/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Putin kicked off the meeting by praising the North Korean soldiers for their “bravery and heroism” in fighting alongside Russian troops in Moscow’s war against Ukraine, according to the AP, which said the North Koreans were specifically helping to keep Ukraine from attacking Russia’s Kursk border region.
South Korea estimates that 15,000 North Korean troops have been sent to Russia since last year.
Along with manpower, North Korea has also supplied Moscow with ballistic missiles and artillery, among other military equipment.
Suspected North Korean-made F-7 rocket-propelled grenades, many with a distinctive red stripe on their warhead, are seen at an Israeli military base in southern Israel, Sunday, Oct. 15, 2023.(AP Photo/ Alon Bernstein)
Kim said his country’s cooperation with Russia has “significantly strengthened” since last June when both leaders signed a strategic partnership.
Kim did not bring up the Russia-Ukraine war, per the AP, but told Putin that he would do “everything possible to help” the people of Russia in whatever way is needed.
“If there’s anything I can do for you and the people of Russia, if there is more that needs to be done, I will consider it as a fraternal duty, an obligation that we surely need to bear, and will be prepared to do everything possible to help,” Kim said, according to the AP.
From left, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif arrive at a military parade to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Japan’s World War II surrender in Beijing, China, on Sept. 3, 2025.(Alexander Kazakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
The bilateral meeting between the two marks the first time Kim has been to Beijing since 2019 as he seeks to strengthen ties with China and Russia.
Kim had his senior party and government officials, including Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui, with him during the trip, KCNA added.
The visit comes a couple of weeks after South Korean President Lee Jae Myung met with President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., where he emphasized trilateral cooperation to counter North Korea’s advancing nuclear and missile programs.
Robert Birsel is a Newsweek reporter based in Asia with a focus on political and general news. Robert joined Newsweek in 2025 from Radio Free Asia and had previously worked at Reuters. He is a graduate of the London School of Economics. You can get in touch with Robert by emailing r.birsel@newsweek.com. Languages: English.
Shane Croucher is a Breaking News Editor based in London, UK. He has previously overseen the My Turn, Fact Check and News teams, and was a Senior Reporter before that, mostly covering U.S. news and politics. Shane joined Newsweek in February 2018 from IBT UK where he held various editorial roles covering different beats, including general news, politics, economics, business, and property. He is a graduate of the University of Lincoln, England. Languages: English. You can reach Shane by emailing s.croucher@newsweek.com
🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said it was the initiative of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to send Pyongyang’s troops to fight against Ukrainian forces in Kursk.
South Korea estimates that some 2,000 North Korean troops died defending Kursk against a cross-border incursion by Ukraine.
Putin and Kim met in Beijing, China, where they are attending celebrations and a military parade to mark 80 years since the end of the Second World War.
“At your initiative, as is well known, your special units took part in the liberation of the Kursk region, in full accordance with our new treaty,” Putin said, originally in Russian, state news agency TASS reported.
“I want to note that your soldiers fought bravely and heroically.”
Kim told Putin it was North Korea’s “fraternal duty” to Russia to do so.
China hosted what it says was its “biggest” military parade for “Victory Day” on Wednesday, showcasing the country’s growing military power while commemorating Japan’s surrender at the end of World War II.
More than two dozen world leaders were expected to attend the parade as China displayed some of its newest and most advanced weapons. Rehearsals had been underway for weeks, and security in the sprawling Chinese capital of Beijing has been extra tight.
Here’s what to know about China’s military parade.
When is China’s military parade?
The parade took place on Wednesday, Sept. 3, starting at 9 a.m. local time, according to state news agency Xinhua. The parade was held in central Beijing in Tiananmen Square, proceeding down Chang’an Avenue, which translates to “Eternal Peace.”
Who is attending China’s military parade?
Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are among the dignitaries who attended the parade. It was the first time Kim, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Putin appeared together. The trio has been dubbed an “Axis of Upheaval” by some Western analysts.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrive at a military parade in Beijing, China, Sept. 3.
Sergei Bobylev / AP
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and the leader of Myanmar’s ruling military junta, President Min Aung Hlaing, were also expected to attend, according to China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In total, the parade was expected to be attended by 26 different foreign leaders and an estimated 50,000 spectators.
Why is the parade being held and what will it feature?
“Victory Day” marks the 80th anniversary of Imperial Japan’s surrender at the close of World War II. In 2014, China set Sept. 3 as Victory Day.
The parade was Xi’s third military parade since coming to power in 2012.
The 70-minute parade displayed China’s growing military might and newest hardware, including hypersonic weapons, nuclear-capable missiles, fighter jets and underwater drones. According to The Associated Press, in a speech, Xi said humanity today must choose between peace and war and between dialogue and confrontation.
How did President Trump respond?
In a post to Truth Social on Tuesday evening, President Trump noted that the U.S. and China were allies against Japan during WWII, writing that the “big question to be answered is whether or not President Xi of China will mention the massive amount of support and ‘blood’ that The United States of America gave to China in order to help it to secure its FREEDOM from a very unfriendly foreign invader.”
Mr. Trump went on: “May President Xi and the wonderful people of China have a great and lasting day of celebration. Please give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong Un, as you conspire against The United States of America.”
Miles Yu, professor of East Asia, military and naval history at the United States Naval Academy, joins CBS News to share his thoughts on the massive military parade taking place in China.
Chinese networks are laundering billions of dollars in drug cartel cash through the U.S. financial system, according to a new report from the Treasury Department.
Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network said banks flagged about $312 billion in transactions from suspected Chinese money laundering networks from January 2020 to December 2024. That came from 137,153 Bank Secrecy Act reports from financial institutions.
Treasury also linked Chinese money laundering networks to U.S. real estate transactions, casinos, human trafficking and even laundering through assisted living homes in New York. The networks also use Chinese students studying in the U.S. to help facilitate some schemes. Real estate alone accounted for about 13% of the total, but the vast majority was U.S. banks.
“Money laundering networks linked to individual passport holders from the People’s Republic of China enable cartels to poison Americans with fentanyl, conduct human trafficking, and wreak havoc among communities across our great nation,” Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence John Hurley said.
The report comes after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suspended a Biden-era small business rule in March designed to curb money laundering that small businesses had challenged in court. President Donald Trump said the Corporate Transparency Act, which Congress passed in 2021, was “outrageous and invasive.” Bessent said it was costly for small businesses. The CTA would have required small businesses to report information about their beneficial owners to Treasury’s FinCEN. The rules remain in place for foreign businesses.
The FinCEN report noted that laws and regulations in Mexico and China also play a role.
“Mexico’s currency restrictions prevent large amounts of U.S. dollars from being deposited into Mexican financial institutions, hindering the cartels’ ability to launder funds through the formal Mexican financial system,” according to the report. The [People’s Republic of China] currency control laws limit the amount of money Chinese citizens can transfer abroad each year.”
The two groups have learned to work well together in recent years. FinCEN refers to Chinese money laundering networks as CMLNs.
“Ultimately, Chinese citizens’ demand for large quantities of U.S. dollars and the cartels’ need to launder their illicit U.S. dollar proceeds has resulted in a mutualistic relationship wherein the cartels sell off their illicitly obtained U.S. dollars to CMLNs who, in turn, sell the U.S. dollars to Chinese citizens seeking to evade China’s currency control laws,” the report said.
Scott Greytak, an anticorruption attorney and the deputy executive director for Transparency International U.S., said the U.S. is considered one of the best places in the world for money laundering because of its strong property rights and rule of law.
“Even though they don’t like the rule of law, they certainly like their money being protected by it,” he told The Center Square. “So we just tend to attract a ton of dirty money.”
Greytak said that U.S. law enforcement officials can’t track the money without stricter financial, business, and real estate reporting.
The FinCEN report highlighted China’s capital flight restrictions, which limit the amount of money Chinese citizens can transfer abroad annually to $50,000 for investment and financial purposes. That limit has sprouted its own underground banking network.
“Many Chinese citizens have turned to alternative methods, like the Chinese underground banking system (CUBS), to bypass these restrictions. The CUBS consists of various individuals and businesses from different industries who collaborate through ‘mirror transfers’ to move money across borders, as part of informal value transfer system schemes. The CUBS, in turn, depend on CMLNs to secure foreign currency.”
Beijing — China will host its biggest military parade ever on Wednesday, to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and Japan’s formal surrender. The massive procession will go down Chang-an Avenue, the name of which means “Eternal Peace.”
Joining Chinese Prime Minister Xi Jinping for the “Victory Day” event — which will showcase some of China’s newest and most advanced weapons — will be Russia’s Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.
Rehearsals have been underway for weeks, and security in the sprawling Chinese capital has been extra tight. All buildings overlooking the parade route will be locked down as the leaders and other dignitaries from 26 countries take in the spectacle, along with some 50,000 spectators.
For China’s 72-year-old leader Xi, it will be a landmark moment. It’s the third and most important military parade he will have overseen since coming to power in 2012. As commander-in-chief of the world’s largest standing armed forces, he will watch as tens of thousands of troops under his orders march toward Tiananmen Square in central Beijing.
Xian H-6N jet bombers fly in a formation past a Chinese national flag during a flyover rehearsal ahead of a military parade to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, in Beijing, China, Aug. 24, 2025.
Tingshu Wang/REUTERS
It will be a visceral display not only of China’s growing military might and newest hardware, including hypersonic weapons, nuclear capable missiles, fighter jets and underwater drones, but of its growing clout as a geopolitical power, with deepening ties to some of the United States’ most potent adversaries.
North Korea’s Kim arrived in Beijing Tuesday aboard his green armored train, stopping to inspect one of his own country’s missile production facilities on the way before crossing into China.
The parade will be the first time that Kim appears together with both Xi and Putin — offering him a first multilateral diplomatic event.
A North Korean flag flutters from a train believed to have carried North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, as it arrives in Beijing, China, Sept. 2, 2025.
Go Nakamura/REUTERS
The symbolism of the three leaders together on a stage with Xi’s military thundering past in formation will be undeniable. Xi is expected to be flanked by Putin and Kim. Together, they have been dubbed an “Axis of Upheaval” by some Western analysts.
Xi is bringing together the leaders of some of the most heavily sanctioned nations in the world. Iran‘s President Masoud Pezeshkian and the leader of Myanmar’s ruling military junta, President Min Aung Hlaing will also be attending, according to China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
It is a clear show of solidarity against the West, and it’s being seen as a direct challenge to the U.S.-led world order that has prevailed for a century. Xi and Putin have made their ambition to shake up that status quo clear for at least several years.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin walk at the personal residence of the Chinese leader, Zhongnanhai, in Beijing, China, Sept. 2, 2025.
Sputnik/Alexander Kazakov/Pool/REUTERS
“We, together with you and with our sympathizers, will move towards a multipolar, just, democratic world order,” Russia’s longtime Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in 2022, ahead of a meeting with his Chinese counterpart.
The gathering in Beijing will make represent a clear challenge to President Trump’s claim to be fostering close working relationships with Xi, Putin and Kim. Xi’s bond with Putin was on clear and deliberate display in the days leading up to the parade.
China and Russia have declared their “no limits partnership,” and while China claims to maintain a neutral stance on Russia’s war in Ukraine, Beijing’s support of the war effort — by providing dual-use technology and continuing to purchase Russian oil and gas in defiance of Western sanctions, has proven to be an economic lifeline funding Putin’s three and a half year war.
During talks at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People on Tuesday, Putin hailed “unprecedentedly high relations” with China and thanked his “dear friend” Xi for the warm welcome.
Kim’s support for Russia’s war has been even more direct. Since October last year, North Korea has sent around 13,000 troops, along with conventional weapons, to support Russia’s war effort. South Korea’s intelligence services estimate that around 2,000 North Korean troops have been killed fighting alongside Russian forces.
A pool photograph distributed by the Russian state media shows North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin at a welcoming ceremony at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, June 19, 2024.
GAVRIIL GRIGOROV/POOL/AFP/Getty
The parade will be a show of both China and Russia’s implicit support for Kim’s nuclear weapons program, which remains the subject of numerous United Nations sanctions.
Xi burnished his credentials as a geopolitical powerbroker at a regional security summit in Tianjin, northern China, that ended on Monday. He hosted more than 20 world leaders there, including Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“We should uphold fairness and justice,” Xi declared at the gathering of the Shanghai Corporation Organization, seemingly trying to claim moral high ground amid the upheaval and strained relationships caused by President Trump’s global trade war and isolationist policies. “We must oppose the Cold War mentality, block confrontation and bullying practices.”
Without mentioning the U.S. or its president by name, Xi told the assembled leaders of non-Western countries: “We must continue to take a clear stand against hegemonism and power politics.”
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (center) speaks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit, Sept. 1, 2025 in Tianjin, China.
Suo Takekuma/Pool/Getty
On Monday Xi, Putin and Modi were shown together smiling and laughing at the summit — a deliberate public display of warmth and camaraderie. Just last week, the U.S. imposed 50% tariffs on India for buying Russian oil.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, a close ally of Mr. Trump, called the summit “performative” and accused China and India of being “bad actors” for fueling Russia’s war.
At the parade this week, Xi is not only asserting China as a reliable and stable partner, but also showing off his country’s burgeoning alliances, influence and its military might and power. It is a message that many will see as being aimed squarely, if not entirely, at China’s rival across the Pacific.
Anna Coren, CBS News foreign correspondent based in Hong Kong, is an Emmy Award-winning international correspondent who covers the Asia-Pacific region.
China is preparing for one of the most anticipated and politically charged military events in recent years. On September 3, in Tiananmen Square, China will celebrate the 80th anniversary of the victory over Japan in World War II with a spectacular military parade that is not only a ritual of historical remembrance but also a message to the entire world to be prepared for the war of the future.
President Xi Jinping and several foreign leaders and officials, including Vladimir Putin, will attend the ceremony. The Russian president’s presence is reported to have prompted several European ambassadors to consider defecting from the event, fearing it would contribute to the Kremlin’s international legitimization amid the ongoing war against Ukraine.
China’s New Weapons Send a Message
The parade will last about 70 minutes and will see dozens of formations parading down Chang’an Avenue in the heart of Beijing. Xi, as supreme commander of the armed forces, will review the troops before the march through the square. More than 10,000 military personnel, more than 100 aircraft, and hundreds of ground vehicles will be involved.
The official theme is the celebration of peace and international justice, but the real content will be the demonstration of the People’s Liberation Army’s ability to fight high-tech wars in new strategic domains: cyberspace, outer space, electronic and hypersonic warfare. According to leaked information from Chinese dress rehearsals and official sources, more than 100 models of weapon systems, all domestically produced and already in operational service, will be on display.
Enter the Anti-Ship Missiles
Among the most anticipated weapons are the new YJ (Ying Ji, “Eagle Shot”) series anti-ship missiles, designated YJ-15, YJ-17, YJ-19, and YJ-20. These are systems designed for a specific mission: to neutralize large US naval units, particularly aircraft carriers, the heart of American supremacy in the Pacific. These carriers are part of China’s A2/AD (Anti-Access/Area Denial) strategy, i.e., the creation of “defensive bubbles” that can prevent or make it too risky for enemy fleets to access the South China Sea, the Taiwan Strait, and the Western Pacific.
China has developed a wide range of anti-ship missiles in recent decades, often starting with Soviet technologies, and then surpassing them with indigenous designs since the YJ-8 in the 1980s, derived from French Exocets. With the new series, China is aiming for a further qualitative leap, combining stealth, hypersonic speed, and artificial intelligence.
The exact specifications are top secret, but from general tests and expert analysis, some distinguishing features come into focus. First: speed of at least Mach 4-6, thus in the range of hypersonic missiles, with terminal maneuvering capability to evade anti-missile systems. Second: range of hundreds of kilometers. Third: combined flight profile, with the cruise phase at medium-high altitude, followed by grazing descent to the sea to reduce the possibility of interception. Fourth: multiple guidance with Beidou satellite, active radar, and IR sensors. Fifth: launch versatility, adaptable to aircraft, ships, submarines, and mobile land platforms, increasing possible saturation against enemy fleets. Put together, these weapons signal to the United States that aircraft carriers are no longer untouchable, and the Pacific is no longer an “American sea.”
Going Hypersonic
Also expected at the parade are new launchers capable of overcoming US missile defenses and providing Beijing with credible strategic deterrence. Rehearsal images show road-mobile ballistic missile systems, an ideal weapon to ensure so-called second strikes in the event of a nuclear conflict. China is developing and deploying a new generation of advanced mobile intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), designed to ensure the survival of the nuclear deterrence force in the event of a preemptive strike.
Among the main models is the DF-31AG, with an estimated range of more than 11,000 kilometers (6,835 miles), capable of hitting any target in the continental United States. Next up is the DF-41. Considered the most powerful intercontinental missile in China, it has a range of over 12,000 to 15,000 kilometers (7,456 to 9,320 miles) and can carry up to 10 MIRV warheads, each capable of hitting a different target. It is mobile and can be launched from both silos and rail platforms. Beijing is also banking heavily on the JL-3, an ICBM that can be launched from nuclear submarines, currently being deployed on the new Type 096 class of submarines.
The Lethal Stealth Drone
According to several analysts, the September 3 parade will also feature the FH-97: China’s first unmanned aircraft declared combat-ready. Nicknamed “loyal wingman,” it is capable of operating in synergy with manned fighters, carrying out reconnaissance, attack, and electronic jamming missions. If confirmed, China would become the first country in the world to have a this type of stealth drone declared “combat ready,” ahead of even the United States and Australia, which are still experimenting with similar models such as Australia’s Boeing MQ-28 Ghost Bat or the US Skyborg project.
Many details remain confidential, but from what has emerged, the FH-97 can carry guided bombs and air-to-air or air-to-surface missiles, and packs sensors for reconnaissance and electronic warfare. In addition, it can network with fighters such as the J-20 or J-16, acting as a force multiplier for offensive and defensive missions. Finally, it should have artificial intelligence systems to maneuver independently, follow preprogrammed routes, avoid threats, and cooperate with manned aircraft. Showing this aircraft in public means signaling to Washington, Tokyo, and Taipei that Beijing is capable of supporting next-generation air operations that are difficult to counter with current defense doctrines.
Block and Tackle
Alongside hypersonic missiles and ICBM, China’s developing weapons include a less conspicuous but potentially revolutionary arsenal: electronic warfare systems and directed-energy weapons. If missiles are the weapon of visible deterrence, electronic and directed energy weapons are silent tools that can blind enemy radar and communication systems, neutralize drones and missiles in flight, and protect Chinese forces from cyber- and space attacks.
China has invested heavily in the field, seeing it as decisive in winning “informatized” and “intelligentized” conflicts. China’s mobile land and naval systems can jam the frequencies used by airborne radars, cruise missiles, and satellites, while some People’s Army brigades combine cyberattacks and electronic jamming, simultaneously targeting enemy hardware and software. Direct-energy weapons, on the other hand, use concentrated beams of energy (lasers, microwaves, high-power electromagnetic waves) to strike targets without traditional projectiles.
Also on display will be the latest models of reconnaissance drones and combat drones, including unmanned underwater ones, expanding Chinese surveillance capabilities in disputed waters. The debut at the September 3 parade of these systems has strong symbolic value: Beijing wants to show that it has not only caught up with the West, but in some areas, aims to surpass it.
This story originally appeared on WIRED Italia and has been translated from Italian.
Taipei — The head of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee said Friday he was determined the United States and Taiwan remain “the best of friends,” calling the democratic island claimed by China a “free country,” as he visited with another American lawmaker.
Republican Senators Roger Wicker and Deb Fischer arrived in Taipei on Friday for a two-day visit, as President Trump seeks to strike a trade deal with China — which insists Taiwan is part of its territory and has threatened to use force to annex it.
China’s Foreign Ministry reiterated its long-time stance in a statement issued Friday as the American senators arrived in Taipei, saying it firmly opposed any official exchanges between the U.S. and Taiwan.
“We come here from the United States bringing a message from the Congress of commitment, of long-term friendship and a determination that a free country like Taiwan absolutely has the right to remain free and preserve self-determination,” Wicker said during a news conference alongside Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te at the presidential office, as shown in video published by the Reuters news agency.
U.S. Senator Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) speaks during a joint news conference with Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te in Taipei, Taiwan, during an official visit on Aug. 29, 2025.
Reuters
China’s Foreign Ministry responded to a CBS News request for reaction to the language used by Wicker to describe Taiwan over the weekend, with a statement saying the senators’ visit to Taiwan “and the dissemination of erroneous remarks on Taiwan issues violate the one-China principle and the U.S.-China joint communiqués, undermine China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and send wrong signals to Taiwan independence forces.”
The ministry statement voiced China’s “strong dissatisfaction” with the visit and the comments by Wicker, and said the “future of Taiwan must be decided by the 1.4 billion Chinese people, including the people of Taiwan. China will be reunified, and it must be reunified. This is an irreversible trend that no one or any organization can reverse.”
Even before Wicker spoke in Taipei, ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun called the U.S. delegation’s visit “a serious violation” of the one-China principle, a U.S. policy adopted decades ago that recognizes Taiwan as part of China.
A senior Trump administration official told CBS News on Friday that the White House’s stance on the one-China principle “remains the same as the first Trump Administration.”
Wicker, who chairs the powerful Armed Services Committee and is a vocal supporter of Taiwan, said he and Fischer were visiting to better understand Taiwan’s needs, and they wanted to reiterate to Taiwan “our determination to remain the best of friends and to defend the freedom of everyone and both of our great countries.”
Mainland China and territory controlled by the Chinese government is show in yellow, while territory claimed by, but not controlled by Beijing, including Taiwan, is depicted in brown on this map.
Getty/iStock
“It is our determination and our intention that Taiwan remain free and make its own decisions,” Wicker said after their talks with Lai. “Part of maintaining the freedoms that we have is enhanced cooperation militarily, enhanced cooperation with our defense industrial base, making the best use of those funds.”
Since Mr. Trump returned to the White House in January, there have been growing jitters in Taipei over the strength of the Taiwan-U.S. relationship and Washington’s willingness to defend the island if China were to attack.
Fischer said the U.S. Senate understands “the gravity of the challenges that Taiwan faces” and that a “stronger Taiwan means a stronger United States and vice versa.”
While the U.S. stopped recognizing Taiwan as an independent state in the late 1970s, in favor of China, Washington has remained Taipei’s most important backer and biggest supplier of arms that it would need to defend itself from any theoretical attack by China.
A Chinese warship is seen sailing near Taiwan during military exercises announced by Beijing on April 1, 2025, in an image taken from video aired by China’s state-run CCTV television network.
Reuters/CCTV
That support has become increasingly crucial to Taiwan in recent years, as China’s President Xi Jinping has vowed to bring the island under Beijing’s control. China has increased military pressure with large-scale exercises and routine flights and naval excursions that test the democratic island’s air and sea boundaries.
Ahead of the meeting with Wicker and Fischer, Lai said he hoped Taiwan and the U.S. would further “enhance cooperation,” and insisted the island and China were “not subordinate” to each other.
Wicker and Fischer have been travelling in the Asia-Pacific region for the past week, stopping in Hawaii, Guam, Palau and the Philippines.
U.S.-Taiwan ties have been strained since Mr. Trump took office and launched a global trade war and pressured governments in Europe and elsewhere to spend more on their own defense.
The Trump administration reportedly denied permission for Lai to transit in New York as part of a planned official trip to Latin America this month after Beijing objected. Lai reportedly then cancelled the trip.
Taiwan is also struggling to finalize a tariff deal with the U.S. after Washington imposed a temporary 20% levy that has alarmed the export-dependent island’s manufacturers.
As those negotiations continue, Lai’s government has announced plans to increase defense spending to more than 3% of GDP next year and to 5% by 2030.
This is an updated version of a story first published on May 18, 2025. The original video can be viewed here.
According to the latest assessment from America’s intelligence agencies, China “remains the most active and persistent cyber threat to [the] U.S.” Its hackers have infiltrated the U.S. government, the private sector, and critical infrastructure, like water systems and power grids. Hacking, however, has not replaced Beijing’s pursuit of old-fashioned human intelligence. As we first reported in May, China’s Communist Party remains intent on leveraging a worldwide network of covert agents to monitor and influence events outside its own borders, and to surveil and intimidate Chinese dissidents right here in America. Tonight, you’ll hear about why China’s spies are on the rise, and what happens when one gets caught.
Jim Lewis: This is – in scale, and in scope, and in brazenness – the biggest espionage operation against the U.S. in its history.
Jim Lewis is a former U.S. diplomat whose direct experience with China’s intelligence agencies spans more than 30 years.
He says since President Xi Jinping came to power in 2012, China’s spies no longer seem to fear the U.S.
Norah O’Donnell: Why do China’s espionage efforts appear to be growing so big so fast under Xi Jinping?
Jim Lewis: Xi Jinping thinks, “It’s China’s time to move to the center of the world stage.” Xi Jinping looks at the West and at the U.S. and says, “These people are feeble-minded, and I’m gonna be able to beat them.”
It may not be a household name in the U.S. but according to Lewis, China’s Ministry of State Security, or MSS, is now the largest and most active spy agency in the world.
In a propaganda video the spy agency posted last year on China’s largest social network, a voiceover boasts that the MSS “senses things before they happen” and “fights against evil.”
The slick production is a public message to both foreign adversaries and China’s own citizens about the ministry’s growing power.
Jim Lewis
60 Minutes
Jim Lewis: It’s sorta the equivalent of the CIA, but it has much greater powers. One estimate says the MSS might have 600,000 employees. And they are committed to going after the United States. We are target number two for them.
Norah O’Donnell: Who’s target number one?
Jim Lewis: Target number one is China’s own people. When Xi Jinping wakes up screaming in the middle of the night, he’s really worried that the Chinese Communist Party was on the path that the Soviet Communist Party was on.
Lewis says to maintain absolute power at home, President Xi looks abroad.
Jim Lewis: Xi Jinping probably remembers that a lot of revolutions start outside the home country, and he doesn’t want that to happen to China. So there’s a huge effort to pay attention to the expatriate population.
One way Beijing paid attention,according to the FBI, was to secretly openan overseas Chinese police station right in the middle of New York City. It was discovered in 2022, hidden among businesses in a commercial building in Manhattan’s Chinatown. While Chinese expats could renew government documents there like driver’s licenses, federal prosecutors said the main purpose of the outpost was to target and harass Chinese dissidents.
Jim Lewis: They’ve done it in The Netherlands, they’ve done it in Canada. But the idea that you’d open a police station in another country, that’s a signal disrespect of the sovereignty of that nation.
After the station was shut down, two Chinese-Americans who allegedly opened it were charged with conspiracy to act as unregistered foreign agents of China.
In total, over the last five years, the Department of Justice has indicted more than 140 people for felonies related to harassment, hacking, and spying for China within the U.S.
And one of the accused worked for the governor of New York. Federal prosecutors allege a former top aide to Kathy Hochul, named Linda Sun, accepted millions of dollars to influence who the governor met with, and what she said about China. Sun and her husband, who have pled not guilty, owned a multi-million dollar home on Long Island and a condo in Hawaii.
Jim Lewis: Having a Ferrari and two mil– multi-million dollar houses is a bad idea– but–
Norah O’Donnell: For a government employee.
Jim Lewis: Everyone leaves a record. Some records are more flamboyant than others.
“Flamboyant” is not a word that comes to mind when you meet Shujun Wang. The 76-year-old retired historian came to the U.S. from China in 1994 as a visiting scholar at Columbia University.
Shujun Wang
60 Minutes
In New York, home to more exiled Chinese activists than any other city in the world, Wang helped found a group that met regularly and was dedicated to democracy in China.
Shujun Wang (In Mandarin/English translation): In the 2010s, the overseas democracy movement was gaining momentum, and I was eager to be a part of it and promote democracy.
Norah O’Donnell: What was your specific role in the pro-democracy community in Flushing, Queens?
Shujun Wang (In Mandarin/English translation): I was assigned the role of vice president/secretary general for publicity and events – all kinds of events.
While Shujun Wang became a trusted member of the Chinese dissident community here in New York, he kept another role secret: for almost 20 years, he was spying for China’s Ministry of State Security.
Norah O’Donnell: Did you take notes about who attended these meetings and what they said?
Shujun Wang (In Mandarin/English translation): Yes.
Norah O’Donnell: When did you start sharing that information with China’s largest intelligence group?
Shujun Wang (In Mandarin/English translation): That is a very big misunderstanding.
In 2022, Shujun Wang was indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice for sharing dissidents’ names, contact information, and private conversations at the direction of the MSS, for 17 years.
When we spoke with him in February through an interpreter, he was at times combative and disputed basic facts of his case, so we eventually asked Mr. Wang point blank:
Norah O’Donnell: Were you spying for the Chinese government?
Shujun Wang (In Mandarin/English translation): No. Throughout the entire trial they were very careful. They never used the word “spy.” Just look at the record and you’ll see that.
We did, and while lying to 60 Minutes may not be a crime, lying to the FBI is.
Mr. Wang repeatedly told federal agents he had no contact with the Ministry of State Security. But according to federal prosecutors, he met with theseMSS officers in China, and they offered him plane tickets and helped his family with a business dispute.
In 2021, someone claiming to be from the MSS showed up at Mr. Wang’s door to help delete communications from his computer that might incriminate him. Video from the encounter showed he welcomed the man’s help.Unfortunately for Mr. Wang, the Chinese operative was actually an undercover FBI agent.
Mr. Wang had pled not guilty. Last August, he was convicted of making false statements, illegally possessing democracy activists’ identification, and acting as an unregistered foreign agent of China.
Zach Margulis-Ohnuma: Our position has always been that he never had the intent to be an agent of the Chinese government.
Mr. Wang’s lawyers Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma and Kevin Tung admit their client was in touch with Chinese intelligence, but they argue he didn’t break the law – and claim FBI agents went after him once they were unable to recruit him for the U.S.
Zach Margulis-Ohnuma: They were hoping he would roll over and identify handlers higher up the food chain. Now he did not do so. And they felt a little vindictive and angry and frustrated about their inability to stop higher up actual espionage. And they– they turned him into this fall guy.
Kevin Tung: When you look at in reality, he didn’t have any access to secret, top secret information. All he passed over is the attendance sheet of the democracy movement. Those information are available in public.
Norah O’Donnell: People’s names that attend a private event are not public. They’re only made public–
Zach Margulis-Ohnuma: Well, can we– can we–
Zach Margulis-OhnumaL Can we home in on that?
Zach Margulis-Ohnuma: So there’s no evidence of any harm to the United States’ interests or to demo– democracy movement interests from anything that he did.
Anna Yeung-Cheung disagrees. She testified against Mr. Wang in court.
Anna Yeung-Cheung
60 Minutes
The pro-democracy activist’s name and contact information, along with 63 others, was found in Mr. Wang’s luggage when he returned to New York from a trip to China in 2019.
Norah O’Donnell: Did you ever imagine that Mr. Wang was one of the people who was reporting what you were doing and others back to China?
Anna Yeung-Cheung: Not at all.
Norah O’Donnell: Did you lose sleep over it?
Anna Yeung-Cheung: Yeah. And I also made sure my door chain was on all the time at night, because you never know.
Born in Hong Kong, Ms. Yeung-Cheung is now a U.S. citizen and professor of biology. She organizes demonstrations for the Hong Kong democracy movement in the U.S., where she’s become increasingly wary of who might be watching.
Anna Yeung-Cheung: I believe they are collecting information.
Norah O’Donnell: What kind of information?
Anna Yeung-Cheung: Like, what are we doing, what exactly what we are saying in the protests, and how many people are showing up there, things like that.
Norah O’Donnell: And collecting that information for whom?
Anna Yeung-Cheung: For Beijing.
Norah O’Donnell: Why do you think China goes to such lengths to spy on pro-democracy activists here in the U.S.?
Anna Yeung-Cheung: This is their tactics, right? They try to silence you, harass you, or intimidate you so that you stop what you’re doing.
Anna Kwok now runs the pro-democracy organization that Anna Yeung-Cheung co-founded. Because of her outspoken activism, the Hong Kong government has placed a $130,000 bounty on her head.
Anna Kwok
60 Minutes
Anna Kwok: So every single day I wake up, I open my social media, and then I would see people talking about how, if I keep talking– here in the United States, they will come kidnap me and– take my body to the Chinese Consulate so that they can send me back to China.
Norah O’Donnell: How are you viewed by the Chinese government?
Anna Kwok: If I do go back to Hong Kong, it’s gonna be life imprisonment. So basically they see me as a traitor, as someone who betrays– the Chinese government and the Hong Kong government.
Norah O’Donnell: And what’s the crime you’ve committed?
Anna Kwok: They think that fighting for democracy, wanting a say in our own future is a crime.
Norah O’Donnell: The United States is known as the land of the free. Do you feel free here?
Anna Kwok: Honestly, with China’s long arm repression, it’s difficult to feel free anywhere in the world. The thing about the Chinese government is that you can leave the country, you can leave the territory, but you can never actually leave their governance.
After we met her, Anna kwok’s father and brother were arrested in Hong Kong. She is currently seeking political asylum in the U.S.
In March, the Trump administration announced sanctions against officials in Hong Kong who have targeted her and 18 other prominent activists living abroad.
As for Shujun Wang, on April 14, a federal judge sentenced him to three years supervised release. He spared Mr. Wang prison time, because of health problems including cognitive decline, but the judge reiterated he had committed “serious” crimes against the U.S.
Jim Lewis: He was an agent. He worked with the Chinese government to identify targets for them to surveil and compromise.
According to China analyst Jim Lewis, there’s still no substitute for on the ground human intelligence, even if Mr. Wang was an expendable asset for China’s top spy agency.
Norah O’Donnell: Not exactly James Bond.
Jim Lewis: Definitely not James Bond, definitely not. That’s the scary part though is thatthe Chinese are very good, and so he was not number one on the list of assets to protect. That means there are other assets who are being protected.
Produced by Keith Sharman and Roxanne Feitel. Broadcast associates, Mimi Lamarre and Callie Teitelbaum. Edited by Robert Zimet.
Norah O’Donnell is CBS News’ senior correspondent and a 60 Minutes contributing correspondent. O’Donnell is also the host of CBS News 24/7’s “Person to Person,” where she brings interviews that go beyond the headlines through thoughtful conversation. She is a multiple Emmy Award-winning journalist with nearly three decades of experience covering the biggest stories in the world and conducting impactful, news-making interviews.
The largest and most active spy agency in the world is not the MI6, the KGB, or the CIA. It is actually China’s main spy agency, the Ministry of State Security – or MSS. Although the United States is its second-biggest target, foreign powers are not the top priority for the MSS. Instead, the agency focuses on China’s own people, including those living abroad in the U.S.—and the agency recruits spies in the U.S. to be its eyes abroad.
According to Jim Lewis, a former U.S. diplomat whose direct experience with China’s intelligence agencies spans more than 30 years, Chinese nationals on foreign soil pose a unique risk to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s regime.
“They could be plotting. It’s happened before,” Lewis said. “They could be agents of the evil foreign power. They could be learning something that Xi doesn’t want them to learn. And so, they are seen as a risk, not as a threat, but as a risk.”
Spying on Chinese nationals in the U.S.
According to Lewis, the MSS spies on Chinese nationals living abroad in a few ways. First, it surveils WeChat, a Chinese instant messaging and social media app used by more than 1 billion people worldwide.
“It’s hard to do things in China without access to it,” Lewis said. “And it’s completely monitored with the cooperation of the owner by the Chinese state.”
In addition to monitoring online activity, Lewis told 60 Minutes that Chinese intelligence agents have also infiltrated college campuses in the U.S. This corroborates a report this spring from the Stanford Review, which alleges that spies from the Chinese Communist Party are recruiting students at the California campus.
“I’ve had Chinese students tell me, ‘I couldn’t talk in class because the fellow sitting over there in the corner would report back,’” Lewis said.
How China’s MSS recruits its spies in the U.S.
According to Lewis, China’s MSS uses many of the same techniques as other spy agencies: sex, money, and revenge.
“You’re a disgruntled employee. You haven’t been recognized, and someone comes along and flatters you and says you can pay them back,” Lewis explained.
He also said the “honeypot” or “honey trap” strategy is common. A mainstay in spy activity for centuries, a honey trap is when an undercover operative, typically a woman, establishes a romantic or sexual relationship with someone to extract confidential information from them.
If those do not work, there is always a monetary incentive. “Money works like a charm,” Lewis said.
The MSS last year released a propaganda video on China’s largest social network, boasting that the agency “fights against evil.” The video served as both propaganda and as a recruiting commercial.
“It’s both an advertisement to recruit people and it’s an advertisement to warn people that if you fall afoul of us, we will come after you,” Lewis explained. “The Chinese want to give this perception they are largely present everywhere anymore.”
China’s MSS is not the only agency sending a message through flashy videos. The CIA in May released its own videos to encourage Chinese nationals to spy for the U.S. Last year, the CIA also published a text-based video in Chinese that provided detailed, step-by-step guidance on how to safely get in touch with the agency online.
A U.S. official told the New York Times that the agency released this year’s videos because the instructional video was successful. The recent, highly produced videos tap into the fear of the Chinese Communist Party, especially for those who still have family living in China.
Lewis told 60 Minutes that Chinese intelligence agents coerce Chinese nationals abroad by threatening to harm their family members back home in China.
“The ability to blackmail people into being agents because of threats to their family is very powerful, and it’s a tool denied to the West,” he said. “But it’s a tool that the Chinese are not at all bashful about using.”
Lewis told 60 Minutes that people with ties to China are not the only ones who should care about Beijing’s coercion abroad.
“One of the precedents that I thought we had learned in the 1940s is that countries that don’t respect their own citizens, don’t respect their neighbors,” he said. “Fundamental rights are the basis of international security… Because when they mistreat their own citizens, you’re next.”
The video above was originally published on May 18, 2025. It was produced by Brit McCandless Farmer and edited by Scott Rosann.
Brit McCandless Farmer is a digital producer for 60 Minutes, where her work has been recognized by the Webby, Gracie and Telly Awards. Previously, Brit worked at the CBS Weekend News, CBS Mornings, CNN and ABC News.
China is intent on using spies to monitor and influence events outside its own borders. 60 Minutes reports on why China’s spies are on the rise, and what happens when one gets caught in the U.S.
The largest spy agency in the world is now in China, with the U.S. its second-biggest target. The first? China’s own people – including those living abroad in the U.S.
As students returned to school this week, WIRED spoke to a self-proclaimed leader of a violent online group known as “Purgatory” about a rash of swattings at universities across the US in recent days. The group claims to have ties to the loose cybercriminal network known as The Com, and the alleged Purgatory leader claimed responsibility for calling in hoax active-shooter alerts.
But wait, there’s more! Each week, we round up the security and privacy news we didn’t cover in depth ourselves. Click the headlines to read the full stories. And stay safe out there.
Since it was first created, critics have warned that the young and inexperienced engineers in Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) were trampling over security and privacy rules in their seemingly reckless handling of US government data. Now a whistleblower claims that DOGE staff put one massive dataset at risk of hacking or leaking: a database containing troves of personal data about US residents, including virtually every American’s Social Security number.
The complaint from Social Security Administration chief data officer Charles Borges, filed with the Office of the Special Counsel and reviewed by The New York Times, states that DOGE affiliates explicitly overruled security and privacy concerns to upload the SSA database to a cloud server that lacked sufficient security monitoring, “potentially violating multiple federal statutes” in its allegedly reckless handling of the data. Internal DOGE and SSA communications reviewed by the Times shows officials waving off concerns about the data’s lack of sanitization or anonymization before it was uploaded to the server, despite concerns from SSA officials about the lack of security of that data transfer.
Borges didn’t allege that the data was actually breached or leaked, but Borges emphasized the vulnerability of the data and the immense cost if it were compromised. “Should bad actors gain access to this cloud environment, Americans may be susceptible to widespread identity theft, may lose vital health care and food benefits, and the government may be responsible for reissuing every American a new Social Security number at great cost,” Borges wrote.
Nearly 10 months have passed since the revelation that China’s cyberespionage group known as Salt Typhoon had penetrated US telecoms, spying on Americans’ calls and texts. Now the FBI is warning that the net cast by those hackers may have been far broader than even previously thought, encompassing potential victims in 80 countries. The bureau’s top cyber official, Brett Leatherman, told The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post that the hackers had shown interest in at least 600 companies, which the FBI notified, though it’s not clear how many of those possible targets the hackers breached or what level of access they achieved. “That global indiscriminate targeting really is something that is outside the norms of cyberspace operations,” Leatherman told the Journal. The FBI says that Salt Typhoon’s telecom hacking alone resulted in the spies gaining access to at least a million call records and targeted the calls and texts of more than a hundred Americans.
Days after Donald Trump’s Alaska summit with Vladimir Putin, the White House moved to gut its own intelligence ranks. A senior CIA Russia analyst—29 years in service and slated for a coveted overseas post—was abruptly stripped of her clearance, The Washington Post reported. She was one of 37 officials forced out under an August 19 memo from Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. The order listed no infractions. To colleagues, it looked like a loyalty purge. The firings have reportedly unsettled the CIA’s rank and file, sending a message that survival depends on hewing intelligence to fit the president’s views.
On Monday, Gabbard unveiled what she calls “ODNI 2.0,” a restructuring that cuts more than 500 positions and shutters or folds whole offices she deems redundant. The Foreign Malign Influence Center and the Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center are being pared back, while the National Intelligence University will be absorbed into the Pentagon’s defense school. Gabbard says the plan will save $700 million a year and depoliticize intelligence. Critics noted, however, a fact sheet published by Gabbard on Monday itemized only a fraction of those savings, and tjeu warned that the overhaul could hollow out the very coordination ODNI was created post-9/11 to provide—discarding expertise and leaving the intelligence fragmented at a time of escalating threats.
